So (not) obsolete

The consolidation of the salon and hairstyling product industry in the late 1990s crushed Melissa Helm's business.
Her Tampa-based company, JH Enterprises, was a Paul Mitchell products distributor in Florida and Georgia. When big industry players started to acquire each other, says Helms, it left little room for small firms. So she sold her company.
At first glance, Helms' next entrepreneurial venture — running a sewing retail business — seems even more obsolete than hair gel. That's because sewing, to many, is stuck in the 1950s. “Most people look at me like I have three eyes when they hear what business I'm in,” Helms says. “They always say, 'You mean people still sew?' If I had a dollar for every time I heard that I could retire.”

Not only do people still sew, Helms has learned, but they buy machines that cost up to $12,500 to do it. These customers, Helms has also learned, crave a social environment to share their passion.

On the backs of this interest, Helms' 18-employee company, Keep Me In Stitches, already with $2 million in annual sales, is poised for a breakout year in 2016. Says Helms: “Hopefully we are about to kick it in the teeth.”